Third-party Review of Saline Area Schools Athletic Department is Completed

The third-party review of the Athletic Department is in for Saline Area Schools and there were some important recommendations suggested.

The presentation of the review was given at the June 10 school board meeting by 5/3 Athletic Consulting. The review was initiated in part from the Saline Varsity Football Team having to forfeit three games last season due to residency concerns that potentially impacted athletic eligibility. Saline Area Schools looked to an outside consultant in 5/3 Athletic Consulting to conduct the review.

Here is one excerpt from the review:

An area of concern that was expressed by many was inconsistency in engagement with student athletes, coaches, and parents. One student shared that the athletic director was in attendance at her athletic event where no administrator had attended before. “During home (events) our athletic director would sometimes come to the (event) and support us, which was cool because no one comes to watch otherwise.”

Here is one recommendation from the report:

Residency Verification and Compliance

Given the recent issues and the significant consequences for violating the MHSAA transfer rule, a physical residency check should be the common practice for ALL new student enrollees with the intent to participate in SHS Sports. In addition, the SHS athletic department administrators must attend the first practice of each sport each season, specifically to identify the new students to the SAS district. Before the first practice of the season for each sport, a full and complete roster MUST be submitted by the head varsity coach to the SHS athletic department office. Any modification to that initial roster submitted MUST be communicated to the SHS athletic department office immediately. A focused adherence to these outlined policies by coaches, parents, and athletic administration is crucial to prevent further violations of MHSAA participation policies.

The Sun Times News followed up with school board president Michael McVey to ask about the review and its report.

Here are McVey’s remarks at the school board meeting:

“On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Scott Robertson of 5|3 Athletic Consulting for his diligence in authoring the comprehensive review of the Saline Area Schools Athletics Department.

The board provided Mr. Robertson with a charge to review a detailed list of topics.

To accomplish this task, Mr. Robertson reviewed many public documents with the full list available in the report itself.

Scott visited the district on three separate occasions, engaged with numerous members of our community, and conducted two targeted surveys—one for coaches and one for student-athletes. He even watched a couple of games being played.

In our limited communications, he noted and wanted to publicly thank Athletic Director Ashley Mantha and Assistant Athletic Director Jeff Pike for their full transparency and cooperation throughout this process. Their willingness to provide Scott and his team with everything necessary was instrumental in ensuring a thorough and effective review.

I would like to share a few key observations and findings from the report:

·        Feedback Tools: The report includes some criticism of the current use of the Grit Survey for postseason feedback. It recommends exploring alternative tools that may provide more actionable insights.

·        Coaching Resources: The review highlights the value of the Coach’s Toolbox and orientations, which support our coaches in their organizational responsibilities. Notably, this level of support exceeds what is typically found in most school district athletic programs.

·        Survey Results: The Sports Climate Questionnaire (SCQ), a statistically validated and reliable instrument, was administered to both student-athletes and coaches. Its results reflect a broadly positive perception of the athletic department. While response rates were modest—approximately 40% of coaches and 15% of students—the results indicate that the department is largely meeting stakeholder expectations.

·        Title IX Compliance: I was particularly pleased to read that Saline Area Schools is considered a leader in Title IX compliance. According to Southeastern Conference administrators, our athletic department is frequently looked to for guidance in this area.

·        Professional Development: Our athletic department remains actively engaged with the MHSAA and participates in multiple professional development sessions each year. Additionally, I want to recognize that our Athletic Director, Ashley Mantha, recently earned her Certified Master Athletic Administrator certification—an exceptional and rare achievement.

·        Coaching Recruitment: The process for recruiting, hiring, and onboarding coaches is both comprehensive and consistent across district-subsidized as well as self-funded programs. The review also noted the increasing difficulty in finding and retaining coaches and commended the department for leveraging its extensive network to recruit a varsity gymnastics coach successfully.

The report also offered several recommendations to enhance communication and the overall functioning of the athletic department.

I believe our community should be immensely proud of the outstanding work being done by our athletic department and its leadership. Their dedication to supporting our student-athletes and maintaining high-quality programs is noteworthy and commendable.”

To see the review, go to the school district’s webpage and look for the June 10 Board of Education meeting packet at https://www.salineschools.org/board-of-ed/agendas-and-packets/.